Russian news agency Sputnik reports, that according to a Russian lawmaker, who has just returned from North Korea, Pyongyang is ready to test a missile capable of reaching the US western coast.

As Sputnik adds, "Pyongyang is planning to test-fire a missile that is capable of reaching the western coast of the US, Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs told RIA Novosoti."

‘Maybe it’s the calm before the storm,’ Trump cryptically says at military gathering

Um, what storm is that?

“You’ll find out,” President Donald Trump mysteriously said Thursday night during a photo op with top military officials and their spouses at the White House. Earlier in the evening, Trump met with senior military leaders, including Defense Secretary James Mattis.

April 4: Medium-range KN-17 ballistic missile test-fired into the Sea of Japan, travelling just 34 miles after spinning out of control.

April 15: KN-17 missile explodes almost immediately after take-off.

April 28: KN-17 missile travels just 21 miles before breaking apart in mid-air.

May 14: Missile, believed to be a KN-17, flies about 480 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan.

May 21: Another KN-17 test, with the projectile travelling more than 300 miles into the same sea.

May 29: A short-range ballistic missile was tracked for six minutes before landing in the sea.

June 8: Anti-ship missiles fired into the Sea of Japan.

July 4: North Korea tests its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a Hwasong-14 which crashed into the Sea of Japan after travelling about 580 miles.

July 28: Another ICBM is test-fired, flying 621 miles for 45 minutes - the longest flight of a ballistic missile fired by North Korea - before crashing into the sea inside Japan's Economic Exclusion Zone.

August 26: Three short-range ballistic missiles are test-fired, with the second blowing up within seconds and the third failing in flight.

August 29: North Korea fires a KN-17 over northern Japan - sparking evacuations and air raid sirens in towns - and it travels 1,667 miles before breaking apart.

September 3: Pyongyang carries out its sixth test of a nuclear weapon, claiming it was a hydrogen bomb, causing a 6.3-magnitude earthquake. Experts say the device was up to eight times more powerful than the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

September 15: Another ballistic missile - the 14th missile test of the year - is fired over northern Japan, this time flying for about 2,300 miles before hitting the sea.

‘Maybe it’s the calm before the storm,’ Trump cryptically says at military gathering

Um, what storm is that?

“You’ll find out,” President Donald Trump mysteriously said Thursday night during a photo op with top military officials and their spouses at the White House. Earlier in the evening, Trump met with senior military leaders, including Defense Secretary James Mattis.

I don't like politics in my disasters, they are the worst possible kind. Short of a planet killing disaster, political disasters account for untold billions dead. But this has been unfolding in real time.

I can't say much because of the rules here but if ever there was a time to bend them with an eye towards preparations that time is coming.

_________________"Big Thanks - I promise to advance your agenda within the secret and omnipotent councils of the Trilateral Commission"

Aug 30, the US Navy successfully tests an SM-6 against a live missile/target

July 11 and again on July 30, the US tests the THAAD system, both shots score a hit.

The THAAD, the Aegis and PAC system radars all seamlessly interface and are able to share data to cover an area from near space to the surface - if the (already fielded) C-RAM is added to the mix.

While the Ground-Based Mid-course Defense system system is 'operational' - there are still issues with the on-board steering thrusters.

The difference? Out sh...eerr, stuff works.

Not long ago I worked for the Missile Defense Agency testing air Defense missiles.

C-Ram is worthless vs. ICBM's.

THAAD is good for terminal phase only which means you could well get nuked before an interceptor ever reaches a target, in fact given the short range damn well likely. The THAAD radar is very nice however.

SBX was sent out early this year, presumably to watch the NORK tests. So far as I know it is still out there throwing money in to the boilers.

The ABL is grounded and really never worked all that well anyway.

Boost/ Ascent Defense is near hopeless for so many reasons I won't go in to them all any way.

That leaves GBMD. GBMD works "ok" meaning more than half the time but if they don't shoot at something that is protected than it will not matter. The US does not have the assets to protect everything.

_________________"Big Thanks - I promise to advance your agenda within the secret and omnipotent councils of the Trilateral Commission"

Washington (CNN)A North Korean official reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment to developing a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching "all the way to the East coast of the mainland US," on Monday, telling CNN that the rogue nation is currently not interested in diplomacy with the US until it achieves that goal.

North Korea is not ruling out diplomacy, but "before we can engage in diplomacy with the Trump administration, we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States," the official said.

I admit that it is a bit unsettling to read the hyperbole and grandiloquence being used by the leaders that traditionally use someone else to do that for them. It is an old, old game that with modern technology makes anyone and everyone believe that they have a front row seat. Still, with stupidly selfish and cruel people using weapons indiscriminately, giant fast-moving forest fires, hurricanes, electrical grid outages, thousands and thousands of desperate, displaced people, and, of course, the now daily threat of the use of nuclear weapons, it would definitely be a good time to plan/prep for the protection and survival of yourself and those close to you if you are just tuning in here for the first time.

_________________It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.Henry David Thoreau